About Soulbound

SOULBOUND HOUSE

It started with a card game.

A few years ago, I noticed that the people around me — my daughters, my friends, my co-workers, myself — were carrying a lot. Not always in obvious ways. Just moving too fast, holding things in, disconnected from what actually matters.

So I made a card game called How's The Water? — a simple deck that gives people permission to have real conversations. Then I watched what happened when people actually played it — professional sports teams in locker rooms, corporate teams at offsites, families at kitchen tables...

What happened was: people opened up. Strangers became friends. Friends became closer. Something shifted in the room every time.

And I kept thinking — what if the room itself was designed for that?

So I built the room.

Soulbound House is a small, candlelit space in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood — part Japanese tea house, part Canadian cabin, part speakeasy for the soul. A place where phones go quiet, tea is poured, and people share what's real.

On evenings and weekends, we host Soulbound Stories — intimate gatherings where people share true stories with each other. The only rule: it has to be short and it has to be true and after that, well, it can be whatever you want it to be.

During the day, it's a quiet refuge for members — a place to sit, think, meditate, or meet someone over tea without a screen between you.

What Soulbound is becoming.

Soulbound House is the first space. It won't be the last.

The idea is simple: small, soulful spaces in overlooked corners of neighbourhoods — places where people can disconnect from the noise and reconnect with each other. Designed to be beautiful, sustainable, and replicable.

Alongside the spaces, we create products that carry the spirit of connection into everyday life — games, books, and objects that give people permission to be honest with each other.

Everything we make shares the same belief: when people are given the right environment, meaningful things happen naturally.

Who I am.

I'm Scott Annan — a parent, a former backcountry guide, an entrepreneur with 20 years in Canada's startup world, and someone who has spent most of his life trying to figure out how to bring people together.

I study Zen Buddhism at a local monastery. I fly airplanes. I created a card game & a book. And now I'm building candlelit rooms in basements and inviting strangers to tell each other the truth.

It's the most meaningful work I've ever done.